The Ebay merchant carriebear31 has sold at least a dozen of the fake coins on Ebay (at a loss if the silver purity is to be believed).

I have reported the listings and called Ebay concerning this issue to no avail for months.

Considering paying the $60 dollars to "Express" grade one of the counterfeit coins by the Numismatic Guarantee Corporation. NGC would then return it well within the 30 day Ebay Guarantee period. Then, Ebay should pickup the grading fee considering they have willingly failed to protect the market in these coins.

The Ebay merchant carriebear31 has sold at least a dozen of the fake coins on Ebay (at a loss if the silver purity is to be believed).

I have reported the listings and called Ebay concerning this issue to no avail for months.

Considering paying the $60 dollars to "Express" grade one of the counterfeit coins by the Numismatic Guarantee Corporation. NGC would then return it well within the 30 day Ebay Guarantee period. Then, Ebay should pickup the grading fee considering they have willingly failed to protect the market in these coins.

Thoughts?

Best regards,

Mike

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I have no idea if that would work, but it’s clearly a fake. Good on you for being diligent and trying to get rid of the seller. @ToughCOINS can you maybe shed light on eBay policy?

I have no idea if that would work, but it’s clearly a fake. Good on you for being diligent and trying to get rid of the seller. @ToughCOINS can you maybe shed light on eBay policy?

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EBay has long been successful in deflecting responsibility for the authenticity of merchandise on its website by requiring the listing sellers to agree to list only genuine goods. Doing so minimizes their cost of doing business, but it fails to protect buyers against unwitting sellers of counterfeit goods, or worse, predatory sellers of known fakes.

Only a serious challenge in the courts, with a LOT of legal clout - a full-blown class action - would intimidate them enough to do anything about it. Anything less than tens of millions of dollars will be insufficient to get their attention.

As an example, when it is inconvenient for a country to change their dies, they will authorize their mint, often in a foreign land, to press restrikes to replenish their circulating coinage. These restrikes are graded with the word "restrike" featured prominently on the slab label:
Chile has not authorized any restrikes ever.

Simply counterfeit coins are not graded and are returned to their owner in a plastic bag.

The ebay merchant insists on calling them a "restrike" and insists that they are a legitimate KM# 183 coin from the Krause catalog!

I purchased a replica coin not long ago on ebay. It was clearly listed as a "Replica" coin. This 1867 replica coin was minted at the Case de Moneda de Mexico:
According to Ebay guidelines, replica coins should be clearly listed as replica coins.

EBay has long been successful in deflecting responsibility for the authenticity of merchandise on its website by requiring the listing sellers to agree to list only genuine goods. Doing so minimizes their cost of doing business, but it fails to protect buyers against unwitting sellers of counterfeit goods, or worse, predatory sellers of known fakes.

Only a serious challenge in the courts, with a LOT of legal clout - a full-blown class action - would intimidate them enough to do anything about it. Anything less than tens of millions of dollars will be insufficient to get their attention.

As an example, when it is inconvenient for a country to change their dies, they will authorize their mint, often in a foreign land, to press restrikes to replenish their circulating coinage. These restrikes are graded with the word "restrike" featured prominently on the slab label:
Chile has not authorized any restrikes ever.

Simply counterfeit coins are not graded and are returned to their owner in a plastic bag.

The ebay merchant insists on calling them a "restrike" and insists that they are a legitimate KM# 183 coin from the Krause catalog!

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You’ve convinced me. And I have a warm place in my heart for Chile. Unfortunately, I have no clout with eBay, haha.

At least with the Ebay counterfeit, the artisan makes no secret of the replicas. A metallurgical test could be applied to these replica coins to answer how the seller can apparently lose money on the counterfeit side of the operation. For example, is this a simple money laundromat where some loses are better than total loses? Do these coins posses less pure silver than advertised by the artisan?

It seems like a good way to fake proof coins. Sand casting would be a cheap and effective way to achieve that frosted look, thought it is noticeably more granular. Cast the die, polish the fields and the incuse parts stay rough and "frosty" looking. Not sure if that's what is being done here, seems like a less primitive method may be involved, but it works in theory

It seems like a good way to fake proof coins. Sand casting would be a cheap and effective way to achieve that frosted look, thought it is noticeably more granular. Cast the die, polish the fields and the incuse parts stay rough and "frosty" looking. Not sure if that's what is being done here, seems like a less primitive method may be involved, but it works in theory

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Yes, if the metal is a dentist's amalgam rather than silver, that would answer a number of questions. (In which case, the replica coins should be tested for mercury.)

I'm going to buy a counterfeit coin, then have it tested for silver, lead, and mercury for safety concerns by way of a special NGC submission.

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I think it’s really awesome that you’re doing this, but be prepared to dump all this money down the drain. You might get a refund for the coin, maybe get the seller banned, but I doubt you’ll get your submission money back. Even so, my hat off to you good sir.

I'm going to buy a counterfeit coin, then have it tested for silver, lead, and mercury for safety concerns by way of a special NGC submission.

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I don't doubt that the coin is anything other than solid silver as it's being marketed. The seller is selling what in their mind is a legitimate item, so it does not appear that they would lie about the material. Save yourself some money and just get a jeweler to test the purity. Or, if you have a decent sized flat magnet, angle it at about 45 degrees to the ground and slide the coin down it. If it slides very slowly then it's high purity silver. I've never actually seen or heard of a coin being struck from dental amalgam, though I suppose it's possible considering the odd materials we've seen used (compressed coal dust for example).

I don't doubt that the coin is anything other than solid silver as it's being marketed. The seller is selling what in their mind is a legitimate item, so it does not appear that they would lie about the material. Save yourself some money and just get a jeweler to test the purity. Or, if you have a decent sized flat magnet, angle it at about 45 degrees to the ground and slide the coin down it. If it slides very slowly then it's high purity silver. I've never actually seen or heard of a coin being struck from dental amalgam, though I suppose it's possible considering the odd materials we've seen used (compressed coal dust for example).

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Question is why the mirrored surface does not have any indication that metal flowed due to pressure?

The surface is too flat to have been pressed at a normal temperature.

Then, for the coins to be pure silver as advertised, the seller would loose money on the $20 to $30 less 10% for Ebay, 4% for PayPal, as well as cost of fabrication.